Honorifics are very important in Korean and are something you will encounter in Korean literally every day. From when you call a stranger who dropped a purse or a worker in a restaurant to when you talk to your parents or boss, every daily situation involves using honorifics. The reason for the importance of honorification in Korean is that it is required by the vertical hierarchy of Confucianism, where age and social status play a big part. An idiom 장유유서(長幼有序) is the one that shows the basis of Confucianism, which means there is a strict order that needs to be followed and obeyed between adults and children. Therefore, it is a huge deal in Korea to show proper respect to older people, which refers to physically older or of a higher social status. If a Korean chooses the wrong honorific, it can result in humiliation, embarrassment or even offending the listeners. Sometimes we can hear the news that two men fought each other seriously and its cause turned out that one man started to use an informal/impolite speech manner, which is called 반말 (banmal) in Korean, to the other man. If someone, whether he is a Korean or a foreigner, does not use honorifics properly, whether a Korean or a foreigner, it is easy to offend the listeners. Of course, people understand that it is hard for foreigners to use honorifics rightly, so in most cases, they just laugh it over. But in some cases, for example, if a foreigner says “안녕 (annyeong)”, the most casual version “hello” in Korean, to a university president, the listener could feel embarrassed or even offended. Formality does not consider the relations between the speaker and the listener, but rather, the situation they are in. For example, a TV announcer usually speaks during news recording with a formal polite style (하십시오체), but then after recording when talking to a coworker about daily stuff, he would speak in an informal impolite style (해체). Politeness is related to the relations between the speaker and the listener. Impolite could also mean as familiar or intimate. You speak with the polite form if the listener is older or in higher social status than you, and impolite one if the listener is younger or with a similar social status. For example, you would speak to a senior citizen in a store in a polite but informal style (해요체), but to your siblings in 해체 (impolite and informal style). There are seven speech levels; Hasoseo-che (하소서체), Hapsyo-che (하십시오체), Haoche (하오체), Hageche(하게체), Haerache (해라체), Haeyoche(해요체) and Haeche(해체). Each level shows a different level of formality and politeness to the audience. Koreans show respect to the person they talk to or about by choosing the appropriate speech level. The honorific is one of the most difficult parts in Korean to foreigners because there are not many things like this in English or other European languages. In English, there are not many changes according to situations like age or social rank difference and publicity of the situation. But in Korean, the language changes a lot because of those situations. To honor the subject in the sentence, you have to consider if you should add the honorific verb suffix “-(으)시” in the verb or adjective, the honorific particles like “-께서” and some honorific words. In “아버지께서 운전을 하신다”, the subject “아버지 father”, the honorific word of “아빠”, is honored with “-께서” and “-시-” in the verb. Of the following seven levels, the first five are categorized as “formal speech level(격식체)”, and the last two levels, as “informal speech level(비격식체)”. There is no need to speak this way today and you can see this type of speech in some historical dramas and religious writing such as the Bible, when referring to a deity. 알다 + –나이다: 당신의 종을 아나이다. You know your servant. It is commonly used in public speeches, broadcasts, business, and the service industry to speak to customers. It is used to speak to strangers, elders, anyone higher in social rank. It can also be used to speak to people of lower rank when you want to show them respect. The books are written in this form along with Haerache(해라체). Haoche(하오체) is used to address people that are in a lower or the same social position. It still maintains a moderate degree of respect. It should not be used when speaking to those ranked above us. Unlike Hapsyo-che (하십시오체), it does not lower the speaker to show humility. It is used to speak to people who are the same rank or lower by some older people, like a director of a company speaking to lower-ranking employees, a mentor passing down advice to a mentee, between adult male friends or in some novels. Haerache (해라체), also known as “plain form”, is formal speech and it is one of the most commonly used forms. It is used with those who are of the same or lower rank with no added degree of respect. But it is not considered disrespectful to use this form in the proper situation. For example, in a conversation between close friends or between adults and children. 하다 + ㄴ다/-는다 = 내 남동생은 주말마다 축구를 한다 My younger brother plays soccer on weekdays. 해요체 is an informal, but polite speech. Regardless of the social rank and age of the addressee, it can show respect or politeness. Almost every sentence ends with –요. Only imperative form ends with –세요. To help you better understand polite speech form and 시, let’s take a look at the sentence below. Generally speaking, the verb 주다 does not carry any politeness. If you add 세요, which means “please”, it will sound more polite in the conversation. This is from 주체높임말 (which elevates the subject of the sentence and uses ‘-시-‘). 높임말 is simply expressing respect for someone mentioned in a conversation and does not carry any kind of “formality”. As you can see, the sentence itself is not formal, it doesn’t end with 먹었습니다 or 먹었어요, after we translated this sentence into English, it doesn’t carry any politeness as well. However, in Korean, the word 시 was added to show respect to the mother and has no real meaning. Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Take it easy, Korean grammar is much different compared to English, but it is not rocket science. Anyone with a good method can master it within one or two years. For Korean learning methods, check out our step-by-step guide to learn Korean the smart way. It is the most common greeting for any time of day. 안녕하세요 can be used almost to anyone. 안녕하십니까 may sound too formal to use in daily conversations. You need to use 안녕 carefully only to close friends or younger ones. Its literal meaning is “I am glad we met” and can be used any time you meet someone. Or you can just say “반가워요” without “만나서”. If you have prior knowledge of that person, you can add “again 다시” and then say 다시 만나서 반가워요. It is used with a present tense verb “spend 지내다” and it is asking how you are nowadays. If you want to ask, “how have you been?”, you can slightly change the verb into the past tense and say “어떻게 지내셨습니까/지냈니/지냈어요/지냈어?”. You can use the adverb “well 잘”, instead of “how 어떻게”. There are other Korean expressions and all of them have the meaning of showing a general nuance of the well-being of the other. […] Example sentences in this article are all in simple present tense and Hapsyo-che (formal honorific speech). For more information about Korean speech levels, click here. […] […] Conjugations happen differently depending on formality and politeness level.  […] […] we mentioned in our guide on Korean speech levels, due to the influence of Confucianism, the Korean society has a vertical hierarchy, where age and […] […] this point onwards she’ll use informal casual speech. Check this link for more information: https://blog.lingodeer.com/korean-speech-levels/ […] That was an extremely comprehensive and useful post. Thank you for taking the time to summarise so much information in such an understandable way. It was by far the best and most concise (yet detailed) explanation of the different Korean speech levels and what they represent I’ve found. Thank you. […] the word orabeoni (오라버니) which is oppa in Old Korean. There are certainly more nuances in Korean speech levels that I don’t yet understand, however, I think even learning about the existence of these […] Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.